Collecting the best available data to inform water management decisions

Collecting the best available data to inform water management decisions

John Berge, Scottsbluff, NE Manager, North Platte Natural Resource District

As of the beginning of the next water year, 861 of NPNRD's 1900 regulated wells will have telemetry units installed on flow meters throughout the district, with grant support for this program provided by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) and the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET). These units offer to all parties a reliable, accurate way to receive crop water use data and can be built upon to add weather sensors, moisture sensors or other components valuable for irrigation management.

"As a groundwater management district, The North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) has always striven to collect the best available data to inform water management decisions. Similarly, the NPNRD has seen from past projects that landowners make demonstrably better farm-management decisions when they have their actual water-use data available to them in real-time.
”- John Berge

This website is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-68007-25066, “Sustaining agriculture through adaptive management to preserve the Ogallala aquifer under a changing climate."